Russian oil flows to Central Europe offline again after third attack to pipeline system

Russian crude oil deliveries to Slovakia and Hungary were halted again late-Aug. 21 and are likely to stay offline for at least five days, officials have said, as Ukraine staged a third attack on the Druzhba pipeline system.

Hungary and Slovakia have called on the European Commission to take measures to protect their critical infrastructure after the pipeline was struck by its third missile attack in less than two weeks, according to an open letter from both countries' foreign affairs ministers to EC Vice President Kaja Kallas.

"The Druzhba pipeline is indispensable for our energy supply. Without it, providing oil to our countries is physically impossible," said Hungary's Minsiter of Foreign Affairs, Peter Szijjarto, in a statement on X.

In Russia's Bryansk region, the previous focus of pipeline sabotage attempts, regional governor Alexander Bogomaz reported a "massive attack," and said a fire erupted on an energy facility in the Unecha district.

Repeated attacks on a pipeline pumping system in Unecha suspended crude flows to Hungary and Slovakia Aug. 13-18, and triggered an alarm from both landlocked countries over preserving their fuel supplies. Unlike most of their European neighbors, both still rely on Russian crude for most of their oil supply, benefiting from EU sanctions' design that exempted pipeline deliveries of oil.

Szijjarto, had initially estimated that an Aug. 13 attack on the pumping station would take around a day to repair, before a second strike hampered reconstruction efforts Aug. 18. He called the new strike an "unacceptable assault" on the country's energy security, and has previously warned Ukraine of the country's own energy dependence on Hungary for electricity access.

Hungarian energy company MOL is the sole refiner operating in Hungary and Slovakia, and relies mostly on Russian crude to power some 290,000 b/d of processing capacity across its Danube and Bratislava facilities.

Concerns over security risks to the Druzhba connection had prompted a push by the company to make its refineries capable of pivoting to alternative supplies, which it can source through the Adria pipeline running from the Croatian port of Omisalj.

However, MOL has said that it would not be capable of exclusively feeding its inland operations with the Adria pipeline link until at least 2026, citing technical constraints with replicating crude blends similar enough to Russia's flagship Urals grade.

In an interview with Platts last October, a MOL official said that the Adria pipeline could theoretically support 80% of its inland crude demand, but warned that operations would be unstable and could not be sustained beyond short periods.

Under a one-year deal signed in February 2025, MOL agreed with Croatian pipeline operator Janaf for 2.1 million mt of crude oil to be delivered via the Adria pipeline to its Bratislava and Danube refineries. Those figures translate to roughly 42,000 b/d of oil, about 15% of the combined capacity of the two facilities.

The company was previously hit with Druzhba pipeline outages in June last year, when a Ukrainian crackdown on Lukoil flows through the pipeline temporarily stopped crude deliveries. In December, a "technical incident" at the Unecha pumping station in Russia was blamed for disrupting supplies, before a drone attack in March hit flows again.

Previous outages fast-tracked efforts by the Czech Republic to cut off Russian supplies, after its refiner Orlen Unipetrol was forced to draw on state oil reserves to keep its operations running.

MOL and Russian pipeline operator Transneft were not immediately available for comment.